Ngāi Tahu kaitiakitanga

The paper argues that by the time of European contact southern Māori had developed a regime of sustainable practices for the management of natural resources. Some of these practices are described. As traditional society in the south is located in a rather different cultural milieu than that occupied by Māori who lived in areas where kūmera harvests were reliable, an attempt is made to position southern Ngāi Tahu in relation to the dominant anthropological paradigms.